Versuri Exodus - The Last Act Of Defiance

The prison system, inherently unjust and inhumaneIs the ultimate expression of injusticeand inhumanity in the society at
large.Those of us on the outside do not liketo think of wardens and guards as our surrogates, yet they are.And they are
intimately locked in a deadly embracewith their human captives behind prison walls.By extension, so are we.The terrible double
meaning is thus impartedto the original question of human ethics"Am I my brother's keeper?"

The second of February,
1980Began three days of miseryA scene of retaliationEpitomizing violence, horror, and vindicationThieves, murderers, and
rapistsInundated their prison like homicidal sadistsGuards and convicts alike would pay the priceTo them the electric chair
would look like paradiseOnly degradation, torture, and cremation would suffice

A sea of agony rolled in like the coming of the
tideThe more fortunate escaped the insanity through suicideThe screams of the dying would haunt the living to the
graveSurvivors of the riot relive the nightmare every dayThe last act of defiance

With a never-ending
appetiteBarbiturates set them off like dynamiteEradicating informantsAcetylene torches dealt the punishmentMelted from
skin to boneThe fire silenced their screams to moansSmoke filled the air from bodies set aflameBegging for mercy, but their
words were spoken in vainThey weren't allowed to perish until they cherished all the pain

Guards they had taken hostageWere
to blame for pushing them over the edgeTheir brutality would be their demiseLike sharks in a frenzy they lashed out at their
prizeWhen the madness had endedThe gore was too intense to be comprehendedNo one explained the real reason whyFor cruelty
of a few, so many should dieThey knew of the flaws, but still insist the cause was justified